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In Ireland we're in what's nominally the highest level of lockdown - level 5 but it's not really because the schools are still open, and there appears to be a lot of government effort being put into directing attention away from the probability that covid is being spread in schools. Otherwise, we're not supposed to go more that 5km from our homes except for 'essential' purposes like getting food, going to work if an essential worker (WFH otherwise), providing support for vulnerable relatives etc. Pubs and restaurants are closed except for takeaway service, non-essential retail can only operate via delivery or click and collect. Everyone is supposed to wear a mask when in an enclosed space and to be fair, the vast majority do, and only a minority do the stupid mask-under-nose thing. Public transport is operating at 25% of normal occupancy to facilitate social distancing, which is a problem when 'essential' workers still have to get to work. This latest quasi-lockdown has been running for a few weeks now and is supposed to end at the start of December, but the initial drop in the case numbers/positivity rate has stalled in the last week. We wanted to get below 100 cases per day, but we appear to be stuck between 3-400. It feels very different from the first level 5 lockdown in March/April - back then the streets were empty, the motorways were the same. Rush hour disappeared. This time around, things look almost perfectly normal - it looks like people have just gotten a lot more casual, less cautious than before unfortunately. That said, Ireland has so far managed to avoid the huge second wave that most of Europe is struggling with at the moment. Our health system is notoriously overloaded at the best of times, so the government simply couldnt afford to risk it's being overwhelmed at all, hence the tendency towards caution compared to other EU countries. We went into lockdown again some weeks ahead of the rest of the EU and it seems to have paid off. (fingers crossed)
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Nov 21, 2020 12:37
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| # ¿ May 18, 2024 13:11 |
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